'Super Mario Run' won't work offline due to piracy concerns

Stardock's Brad Wardell hopeful for recovery after Elemental shakeup

Our sister site Big Download cornered Stardock CEO Brad Wardell to talk about the troubled title Elemental; War of Magic and the future of the company. Things are apparently looking better than they did after a "disastrous" launch: most employees are back to work, either at Stardock or elsewhere. But Wardell also says that Stardock is doing so much work on the title that by the second quarter of this year, it will "cross the line from being profitable to having lost money." Wardell expects to lose money on the game just to try and save Stardock's name on quality.

Wardell also said that the company is not done restructuring -- it recently hired both game designer Jon Shafer and writer Dave Stern, and Wardell plans to step away from lead development and move to a more executive role. Wardell remains mum on any future titles, but said that the company's Impulse digital distribution service doubled in third-party revenue in 2010, and expects "even greater growth" and increased staffing throughout 2011. If everything Wardell hopes comes to pass, the Elemental launch may have been the best worst thing to ever happen to his company.